Backus tumor board advises breast cancer patients

Friday

Oct 5, 2012 at 12:01 AMOct 5, 2012 at 5:01 AM

On Thursday afternoon, a team of doctors and nurses gathered around a lunchtime conference table at The William W. Backus Hospital. As they ate, CAT scans, MRI slides and pathology images of breast cancer flashed in front of them. By the end of the hour, the hospital’s breast cancer tumor board had reviewed more than a dozen cases and crafted a range of individualized treatment options for all of them.

Adam Benson

On Thursday afternoon, a team of doctors and nurses gathered around a lunchtime conference table at The William W. Backus Hospital.

As they ate, CAT scans, MRI slides and pathology images of breast cancer flashed in front of them. By the end of the hour, the hospital’s breast cancer tumor board had reviewed more than a dozen cases and crafted a range of individualized treatment options for all of them.

“Patients absolutely love the fact we’re presenting their case to the tumor board. They’re so reassured by that,” said Meena Moran, medical director of the Backus Breast Center and associate professor of medicine at Yale University.

Over the years, Eastern Connecticut hospitals have invested millions in state-of-the-art technology to help detect and combat breast cancer at its earliest stages. They launched marketing campaigns espousing the importance of annual mammograms and offered support groups to help ease the fears of those living with the disease.

That work continues, but behind the scenes at Backus and Day Kimball Healthcare, physicians have used one another’s minds and medical training to find treatment options and provide specialized care for a form of cancer expected to kill 480 Connecticut women in 2012 and be newly diagnosed in 3,140, according to American Cancer Society estimates.

Cheryl Bozorgmanesh, of Brooklyn, president of Day Kimball Healthcare’s women’s group, said the 325-member organization is preparing to launch a major capital campaign to help the Putnam hospital purchase two digital breast imaging systems that will reduce the amount of time it takes to get a mammogram.

Organizers hope to raise $107,250 for the endeavor.

“The equipment for detection is getting better all the time. We thought this was particularly important for women,” Bozorgmanesh said. The women’s group, which was formed in 1894, operates the hospital’s gift shop, and all proceeds go toward paying for the machines.

Radiologist Joanna Jacunski, medical director of Day Kimball’s breast health program, said the condition’s complexity — there are several known forms of breast cancer — requires doctors to evaluate all avenues of available care before presenting options to patients.

“The ultimate goal is to get a patient from diagnosis and rapidly on to surgical and oncological intervention,” Jacunski said. “What used to happen is each person only talked to the patient, and they’re not the ones able to synthesize all that information. We are.”

“What we try to do is talk before they have the treatment. It basically puts us all on the same page,” he said.
In February, Backus was accredited by the American College of Surgeons’ National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers, the 16th facility in Connecticut to earn the recognition and one of two in Eastern Connecticut.

James O’Dea, a psychologist and vice president of clinical service line development at Backus, said the review boards — and the recent naming of Donna Slonski as the hospital’s breast care coordinator — are vital tools in helping patients navigate the health care system and gaining access to services most beneficial to them.

That’s why the tumor boards are made up of caretakers from an array of disciplines: Pathologists, plastic surgeons, radiologists, oncologists and nurses all have a seat on the panel.

“Once the word ‘cancer’ enters the equation, a person’s ability to comprehend information can be limited,” O’Dea said. “When you set the stage to have an opportunity to communicate together, every patient gets the collective wisdom of a dozen different physicians, and we know they’re getting evidence-based care.”